UNT head coach Todd Dodge expects the Mean Green to keep up by building a new football stadium to replace an antiquated Fouts Field.

“Coach [Rick] Villarreal told me that we would have a stadium by 2010 when he hired me,” Dodge said. “They have a lot of jobs to do and the information does not always come out as quickly as they would like, but I have confidence in coach Villarreal and his team that it is going to get done.”

Fouts Field was built in 1952 and lacks the amenities several of the stadiums the Mean Green’s rivals in the Sun Belt and across Texas enjoy. Nearly every Sun Belt team is in the process of improving its facilities or building new stadiums.

Shareholders spokesman Mark Grayson… “Our primary concern is that we feel that the club promised a world-class and effectively free stadium with the best transport links in the UK,” he said.

“We now know through the Tesco-led planning application that the stadium will only be of ‘mid-level quality’ that could add a further £78 million to the club’s existing debt. It is our intention to have a debate regardless of whether it gets called in or not.”

The Vikings’ lease at the Dome ends in 2011, and the commission (Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission), which owns and operates the facility, believes it needs to break ground on a new multipurpose stadium within the next 18 months to complete it in time for the 2012 season.

The Ellerbe proposal was prepared and supposed to be unveiled last summer, in late July or early August, but the 35W bridge collapse put that on hold, Terwilliger said Thursday.

What makes the Ellerbe idea different is that it would reuse some of the original Metrodome foundation as part of the new structure, as well as some of the seating bowl.

But Terwilliger said that almost the entire stadium would be new, with wider concourses, thousands of new seats, more suites and state-of-the-art features throughout. The new facility would bring in about $32 million in additional revenue per year, the commission said.

Thanks to pillars located in each of the four corners, Colts officials say there are about 200 partially-obstructed seats at the new football stadium, and even fewer seats that are totally obstructed - which the team says won’t be sold for games.

The obstructed-view seats include Section 433, Row 13, Seats 27, 28 or 29.

The final media tour before the $750 million stadium’s Aug. 16 grand opening turned up a few of the worst seats, up in the nosebleed section and squarely behind support columns.

If you’re on the aisle, it appears you will have the ability to lean to the left or right — the way Peyton does when he calls an audible, to see around the post.

But if you’re in the middle, chances are your elbows will be in your neighbor’s popcorn if you try to lean too much.

Larry Hall, the vice president of ticket operations for the Colts, said those totally-obstructed seats are not part of the ticket program and will never be sold for a football game.

During a media tour on Tuesday, the word was that these seats are in a section that could someday go away in order to make way for more suites when the Super Bowl comes to town.

Miscommunication is plaguing preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

This was highlighted when Irvin Khoza, chairman of the Local Organising Committee, identified the Royal Bafokeng Stadium this week as “on red” as a Confederations Cup venue.

Yet when contacted by the Sunday Times, Niall Carroll, CEO of Royal Bafokeng Holdings, reacted strongly. “What you are saying has not been communicated to us,” he said. “This perception is unfounded.”

Carroll said the Royal Bafokeng stadium was still expected to host the Nelson Mandela Challenge (against Cameroon in November), a friendly encounter against Norway in March and the opening match of the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour against a Highveld XV next year.

These matches were scheduled to take place before the Confederations Cup and Carroll said it didn’t make sense to him that there was any chance the stadium wouldn’t remain one of the LOC’s and Fifa’s four (or five) designated Confed Cup venues.

But credence was given to Khoza’s comment of the stadium being behind schedule in a presentation on stadium progress given in June to parliament’s education committee by the government’s 2010 unit.

The report, presented by Dan Moyo, acting head of the unit, suggests: “… the delay was 65 days. The estimated completion date was December 15 2008, and the Fifa deadline was December 2008. The unit had met the project team two days previously and a task team had also visited the stadium.

“Half the planned work had been lost and the programme had to be revised… ”

When this was put to Carroll, he said he believed the impression of the stadium upgrade being behind schedule was probably due to a out-of-date project manager’s report.

Adding credence to this view is that the improvements to the stadium are relatively small, and include, according to Carroll, upgrades to change rooms and the stadium’s “innards”, additional seating and the construction of more corporate boxes.

Expecting the stadium to be complete by January 2009 at the latest, he said: “The Lions game next year is going to take place about three weeks before our first Confederations Cup game and there is no hint at all that we aren’t going to be ready for that game or any of the other games we are due to host in the coming year.”

“This is excellent news for the club and its fans,” said club chairman Eamonn McManus.

“We are now looking at an identifiable timeframe and have avoided the onerous costs of a central government call-in.”

“This is another important hurdle out of the way and we look forward to the work and challenges ahead,” said McManus.

“The future of the club and of the town is looking very healthy indeed.”

Each suite features 16 tickets and four parking passes, and the suite terms are three-, five- or seven-year commitments.

Two-hundred fifty new indoor club seats will be $4,000 per seat annually, plus the cost of the game tickets.

The 1,900 outdoor club seats on the east side will be on a sliding scale, beginning at $3,000 annually between the 20-yard lines, $2,250 between the 20 and the end of the playing field, and $1,500 from there to the end of the structure.

The 850 outdoor club seats on the west side are the same prices as the east but the center section has fewer seats. Six-hundred fifty chairback seats, located where the current press box is, will cost $2,000 per seat.

For really big spenders, one of the four corner towers — available for a gift donation of about $5 million — remains open for naming rights.

The Jack Roth Stadium Club — slated for $10 million — is already reserved by Jack Roth, who donated $13 million to the project.

Also reserved are the President’s Suite ($1 million), the Main East-Side Lobby ($500,000), the Athletic Director’s Suite ($500,000) and the Football Coaches Box ($500,000).

Still remaining for those interested — two elevated concourses at a gift of $2.5 million each, the provost’s suite at $500,000 and two remaining elevator lobbies.
Or a donation between $5,000 and $250,000 will get you a place of honor on the Stadium Donor Recognition Wall.

“I have no problem investing further in Blackpool Football Club,” Belokon told BBC Radio Lancashire.

“This was always part of the long-term plan we talked about when I first got involved with the club.”

“There has been a change of emphasis as the club’s policy has always been not to put revenue at risk by developing the stadium,” said chairman Karl Oyston.

“We always tried to obtain property income first to enable us to develop.

“That has not been as easy to achieve as we first hoped. But now with the investment from Mr Belokon and my father (Owen Oyston) we can go forward with this joint venture, albeit with their money at risk, and we can now wait to get a tenant in place further down the line.”

“They (Belokon and Oyston senior) are slightly at risk and in the current financial climate that may seem an odd thing to do but I feel it’s admirable that they are willing to risk this to get us across the line and get on with the building of the South Stand.”

Belokon added: “This will be a 50-50 partnership with the Oyston family and that is as it should be to move this club forward and shows great strength from within.”

A spokeswoman for the Indiana Stadium Convention and Building Authority Shelley Triolsaid:

“There’s still moisture being cleaned up, and there’s still pumps running,”

More rainwater collected Saturday in the southwest corner of the $750 million stadium because of a leak in a temporary fix to a fractured drainpipe, she said. Saturday’s rain added to Tuesday’s in lower levels with electrical boxes and phone closets.

The tunnel — Workers are building a tunnel where the large dirt mound stands behind the bullpen in right field. This tunnel will lead into the stadium from the walkway behind the outfield once the construction is complete.

The restaurant - Tentatively called Rival’s, this bar and grill restaurant will be past the seats in right field.

Fountain seating - In 2009, fans will be able to sit beyond the outfield walls in left and right field.

Hall of Fame - Two separate floors will make up this building beyond the left-field fences.

New Concourses/Concessions/Landscaping - Fans should already be able to see the construction of wider concourses on the east side of the stadium, the side nearest right field. When the season is over, construction crews will work on the current concourses to complete this part of the renovation.

Diamond Club - This will be a new section for the 900 ticket holders who have seats behind home plate.

Andrew Heffler:

“What’s the difference between another team that wins and the New York Yankees? The New York Yankees play at Yankee Stadium…”

“Players come and players go and the only tradition is the uniform and the place where you play,” he said. “This is the common bond throughout the generations.”

Philip DePaolo:

“When you go to the new stadium, are you going to feel the ghosts of the past and that spiritual energy the current stadium has, of Babe Ruth and Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and the popes? The presence you feel. There aren’t many places where you still get that.”

“When people see the wrecking ball, it will be like a part of your life being torn apart,”

On the new stadium:

“But it’s just not the same. It’s a facsimile,” … “Like when you go to Disney World or Las Vegas and they have icons of New York. Those are facsimiles. This is the real thing.”
Will he remain a die-hard Yankee fan?

“I’m not sure,” Heffler said. “Loyalty’s a funny thing.”

In his column on the Reds’ official website, Parry writes: “Most fans will be aware that “enabling” work has been started in Stanley Park regarding the New LFC Stadium. This is a very important step forward.

“We have obtained licence agreement from the council to start work on the park and it’s a significant moment, being the first time any physical work has been undertaken. It’s all about site preparation to ensure we are ready to commence building in the Autumn with completion planned for the summer of 2011.”

Club co-owner George Gillett had recently stressed that the new stadium, which is said to be worth £350m, is unique in design, hoping that it will keep intact the Anfield magic.

The American had said: “The stadium design is unique and will be recognised across the world as the Liverpool FC stadium.

“It incorporates a Kop stand that will hold 18,000 fans and we hope that the stadium will be as noisy and atmospheric on a matchday as Anfield.”

The decision came after a three hour in-depth marathon planning meeting at the town’s Winding Wheel conference centre attended by members of the public.

There was loud applause from the 200 or so Spireites fans who also attended when the vote was taken.

It’s another major step but is not the end of the planning process, which is set to rumble on for some more weeks yet until around October with further hurdles to overcome.

The next step is for the Secretary of State to decide if there are any grounds to call in the development plans for a public enquiry.

Chesterfield chairman Barrie Hubbard said: “We all feel elated that at last we are getting somewhere and congratulate the development team in putting together such a comprehensive regeneration plan that has now been unanimously approved.”

He added: “There are the normal conditions concerning highways and traffic, landscaping, community safety and the like to work through, but nothing that isn’t capable of being resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.”

Although there was plenty of support there were some local objections as well from residents in the Whittington Moor area mainly about traffic issues. Most queries were raised about the Tesco development as it deviated from the Local Plan.

A surprise late bid by Sainsbury’s to delay the planning process to enable their own extension plans to be considered at the same time was rejected.

“Whilst this news was anticipated from the Secretary of State, one can never be sure with planning applications and therefore it is good to get the final approval enabling the Club to press on with the construction,”

“Our programme to be in the new stadium in readiness for the start of the 2010 season remains unchanged.”

“I am also pleased for our many thousands of fans who have had to wait a very long time whilst this complex, and sometimes tedious, process has been conducted.”

“As I have always said, the new stadium will take the Club to a new and sustainable level.”